Saturday, November 14, 2015

Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew! Classified

Captain Carrot: Roger Rodney Rabbit of Gnu York; a rabbit.
The leader of the team, whose real name is Roger Rabbit (or Rodney, as
the latter comics named him to avoid confusion with the title character
of the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit).
After consuming one of his "cosmic carrots" (as Rodney called them),
Rodney gains superpowers for roughly 24 hours, although major exertion
could exhaust the powers sooner. His powers include super-strength,
endurance, heightened hearing and vision senses and a super-powerful
leap. As such, he is the only member who has to constantly replenish his
powers and keeps a pair of carrots holstered on him for such a need in
emergencies. The source of these carrots was initially a windowbox
in which he grew carrots, which one of the meteor fragments had struck.
Later he arranged a grow-op at the team headquarters to ensure an
adequate continuous supply. In his alter ego, Rodney was the writer and artist of the comic book Just'a Lotta Animals, until its members sued for copyright violation and prevented any further reproduction of their adventures.

Alley-Kat-Abra: Felina Furr of Mew Orleans; a cat. A martial arts instructor and student of the mystical arts, Felina uses her "Magic Wanda" (a magic wand)
to cast various types of spells. She has a crush on Rodney/Captain
Carrot, and was relieved to see Wonder Wabbit (of Earth C-Minus) return
to her own world due to her attraction to him. She was imprisoned by
Feline Faust, unknown to her teammates, during which time an evil
counterpart, "Dark Alley," impersonated her and murdered Little Cheese.

Pig-Iron: Peter Porkchops of Piggsburgh; a wild boar. Struck by a meteor fragment, the diminutive Peter fell (along with the meteorite) into a vat of molten metal in the steel mill where he worked. The consequent chemical reaction transformed his now-enormous body into living steel,
with strength and invulnerability to match. Peter was originally a
character from an earlier series of DC "funny animal" comics. Pig-Iron
is also nicknamed the "Swine of Steel" and "Porcine Powerhouse".
Pig-Iron died in the Final Ark comic book series against Starro to save
his friends.

Rubberduck: Byrd Rentals of Follywood, Califurnia; a duck. Byrd, a movie
star, was given the power to stretch his body into any shape and length
when a meteor fragment struck his hot tub. Byrd Rentals' name is a
parody of actor Burt Reynolds. Rubberduck is also nicknamed the "Malleable Mallard" and the "Ductile Duck".

Yankee Poodle: Rova Barkitt, also of Follywood; a poodle.
Rova, who worked as a gossip columnist, was interviewing Byrd when they
were both struck by meteor fragments. Rova gained the ability to
project a repelling force (in the form of blue stars) with one hand and
an attraction force (in the form of red-and-white stripes) with the
other. Rova Barkitt's name is a parody of gossip columnist Rona Barrett.

Fastback: Timmy Joe Terrapin of the Okey-Dokey swamp in the American South; a turtle. While trying to catch a bus to Kornsas City, Timmy was struck by a meteor fragment and gained the ability to move at superchelonian
speed. Fastback is also nicknamed the "Reptilian Rocket." Timmy Joe is
not the first fast-moving turtle in his family. His uncle Merton
McSnurtle was secretly the Terrific Whatzit, a crime fighter during the Second Weird War. One issue mentions McSnutle's participation in "Operation Overlard."

Little Cheese: Chester Cheese, a student at Follywood High School; a mouse.
Chester had the ability to shrink from the comparable size of his
teammates to a size of only a few centimeters, and was the only team
member not to gain his powers from a meteor fragment (rather, he gained
them from eating a piece of experimental cheese brought back from
Earth-C's moon),
as well as the first non-founding member. He soon revealed his secret
identity to the public and left the Zoo Crew to become a lawyer. "Dark
Alley", an evil counterpart of Alley-Kat-Abra, later killed him.

American Eagle: Replaced Little Cheese on the reconstituted
Zoo Crew after the latter's death. In his civilian life, the Eagle is
Johnny Jingo, "the talk radio host with two right wings". He is the only
member who does not have powers, though he does use gadgets similar to
those used by Batman.

In the story in Teen Titans vol.3, #30-31, deceased Earth-C
meta-animals named (other than Little Cheese) include Carrie Carrot,
Giant Giraffe, Marvel Bunny Jr., Ballistic Baboon, Amazing Ant, and
Power Panda. These may or may not have been former Zoo Crew teammates.